Three more years.
That’s how much time former Drake University runner Matt Gabrielson figures he’s got left in his competitive running legs before he possibly calls it a career as a professional.
“I think I’ll do one or two marathons a year for the next two or three years and give the Olympic team a run,” Gabrielson told me. “And then run off into the sunset after that.”
Gabrielson had a very successful run in the World Track and Field Championships, placing 36th overall in the men’s marathon a week ago. He was the second-highest finisher.
He plans to run either the Twin Cities, New York or Chicago Marathon next fall, but first he says he has a few other goals to accomplish first.
“I want to break 4 minutes in the mile in indoor track,” Gabrielson said, and then focus on the 10,000 meters and get it in 28:10 or under. I still have some 10,000 meter demons to settle.”
He figures the first half of 2010 will be spent honing his speed on the track and reaching those mile and 10k goals. Then he will venture pretty much full-time into marathons, with the target trying to make the 2012 Olympic team in that event.
“I like the marathon, like the challenge of it,” Gabrielson said. “I want to kind of be good at lot of distances. I’m preparing for that one day (when it will be over), unless I figure something out with the marathon.”
Gabrielson, 31, was a charter member of Team USA Minnesota way back in 2001. He hardly can believe it’s been almost a decade since he arrived in the Twin Cities with the goal of becoming a professional runner. He’s made lifelong friends with other members of the team and been a part of four U.S. teams in world championship events.
“It’s been a good long ride,” Gabrielson said.
And it’s not over. Yet.
GOOD NEWS: I got the news I was hoping to hear Friday. My surgeon’s office called with the news that I needed to schedule my nasal surgery.
So Monday, Sept. 14 is the day I will hopefully gain some relief from sinus buildup and pressure. I will miss two weeks of running after that to recover, which means I will have to skip one of my favorite races, the Capital Pursuit. But I will be back running in October and plan to run on a relay with my four members of our new race team in the Des Moines Marathon.
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